Making Kimbab (Gimbab)

Om nom nom! >0< I love Kimbab! Kimbab was derived from the Japanese “Futomaki” during the Japanese rule, there are many differences when it comes to the ingredients that goes into it though along with instead of using rice vinegar you use sesame oil. Kimbab is pretty much the Korean sandwich in terms of popularity and consumption. You can use whatever you want inside, think about the colors of your ingredients to make it colorful! In my Kimbab I used: marinated steak strips, pickled daikon (large radish), pickled burdock (by itself it is nasty –_–), sliced egg strips, kewpie mayonnaise, unagi sauce, and carrots. To wrap it I used some really good seasoned seaweed also known as “Gim”(the Korean term) or “Nori” (the Japanese term). It was very easy to make, all you need is a bamboo mat to roll your rolls, rice cooker (stove top is fine) and pans to cook your other ingredients along with a good knife to cut everything into strips. I’ve eaten a lot of the Japanese futomaki but this was the first time I had eaten Kimbab, the main difference is the sesame oil which smells so good when you are preparing the rice. I like it better than the rice vinegar since it doesn’t give it the slightly sour taste. Kimbab rolls are pretty big and can feed a few people. My family and I ate Kimbab for an after school snack and everyone really liked it :). Here are the basics of how to make it: 1.Wash and cook your rice, short grain is best, use about 2 cups. After it is cooked transfer the cooked rice to a separate bowl and put in three tbs. of sesame oil. Thoroughly mix and set aside to cool. 2.Prepare your main filling, you can use pretty much anything. I used steak, I cut it into strips and tenderized it then I marinated it in three tbs. of soy sauce, 1/4 cup sugar in the raw, two cloves of garlic minced and a few slices of ginger minced. I mixed it all up good and set it aside for a few minutes before cooking it over medium heat until cook all the way through. Set on a plate to the side. 3.Cut your veggies (enough for about three rolls, I used one pickled radish, two large carrots and 3 burdock pieces.) into long strips and put on the plate to the side, keeping everything in its own pile. 4. Get 4 eggs and beat them in a bowl with a pinch of salt. Heat oil over medium heat and pour in eggs covering the bottom of the pan, cook through and turn over egg sheet. After cooked cut into strips and put on our ingredient plate. 5.Get your bamboo mat and put your seaweed sheet on mat, then put about a cup cooked rice on sheet and spread around leaving about 1-2 inches at the bottom clear so you can close the roll with water after your done. After rice is set, start putting your ingredients in the middle, you can put whatever you want in what ever order. Then get the mat and begin to roll, squeezing tightly as you roll to hold your roll together. Once you get to the last few inches get your hands or a cooking brush in some cold water and go across the clear seaweed then finish the roll and squeeze tightly so everything stays together. Repeat the process until you’ve used your ingredients. Once you get the hang of it, it is really easy ^_^. If you would like to watch videos on it check out youtube and type i: “How to make Kimbab.” there are a lot of helpful videos. Enjoy! Have you ever had Kimbab? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments!